text: The most popular examples of escape and radiate coevolution are of plant-herbivore associations. The most classic example is of butterflies and plants outlined in Ehrlich and Raven's original paper, "Butterflies and plants: a study in coevolution.". Erlich and Raven found in 1964 that hostplants for butterflies had a wide range of chemical defenses, allowing them to escape herbivory. Butterflies who developed novel counter detoxification mechanisms against the hostplants chemical defenses were able to utilize the hostplant resources.  The process of stepwise adaptation and counteradaptation among the butterflies and hostplants is continuous and creates vast diversity.
  Tropical trees may also escape and defend themselves. Trees growing in high light were predicted to have few chemical defenses, but rapid synchronous leaf expansion and low leaf nutritional quality during expansion. Species growing in low light have high levels of different chemical defenses, poor nutritional quality and asynchronous leaf expansion. Depending on the level of light the trees were growing in influenced the type of defenses they obtained, either chemical or through leaf expansion. The trees exposed to less light developed various chemicals to defend themselves against herbivores, a defense not utilizing light. This study was significant because it illustrates the separation between defenses and their relationship with an organism escaping and radiating into other species. Development of novel defenses does not necessarily imply that escape is possible for a species of plant if herbivores are adapting at a faster rate.
  Milkweed plants contain latex-filled canals which deter insect herbivores. Milkweed latex not only gums up the mouth-parts of insects but is also toxic because it contains cardenolides which disrupt sodium and potassium levels by inhibiting the essential enzyme, Na/K‐ATPase. This has allowed for milkweeds to "escape" and become extremely diverse. There are over 100 different species of milkweeds which shows how diverse the plant is, with escape and radiate coevolution playing a very large role in creating such a high number of species.